Clearly, A Night to Remember

Going to a Bryan Adams concert is a bit like watching a massive international hit factory at work. Early on, the slick band - co-ordinated in black t-shirts and jeans - played chart topper after chart topper to a full arena of screaming fans.

It was soft rock at its very best - and it was evidence enough that Adams comes from the very top rank of international superstars.

There was everything from This Time, which first reached the charts back in 1983, to Open Road, a hit from just two years ago which on Tuesday night saw Adams playing on the harmonica.

On their feet

By the time he belted out Summer of '69, most of the audience at Dubai Tennis Stadium were on their feet, clapping and singing along.

Things slowed down - and lighters were waved rhythmically in the air - when he picked up his acoustic guitar and sang his biggest hit, (Everything I Do) I Do It For You.

Along with another tear-jerker, Heaven, it showed that Adams is just as good at sentimental balladry as he is at guitar-driven rock.

His complaints about the huge speaker towers on the corners of the stage - a particular problem since he had microphones right behind each one - and instructions to the security guards to stop harassing those taking photographs endeared him to the crowd.

The impossible

The young female audience member he duetted with on When You're Gone achieved the impossible and made Mel C, who sang with Adams on the original version, sound good.

The main set ended with The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me Is You and for the encore hands were waving wildly in the air again as he sang Cloud Number Nine. During the Best of Me, Adams put down his guitar for once and went walkabout, doing high fives with most of the front row as burly minders kept watch.

And then, for the second encore, it was just Adams and his acoustic guitar giving unplugged versions of Please Forgive Me, Straight from the Heart and All for Love. It was a surprisingly intimate end for a stadium concert, with Adams's gravelly voice note perfect and strong as it cut through the night air.

Photographer assaulted

A Gulf News photographer has said he was punched by a security guard after being ejected from the stadium for taking pictures later into the concert than was allowed.

Vazhisojan said: "I was sitting outside the stadium and the security guy came and pulled the badge away. I thought he had gone away but then he punched me on my right shoulder. The security team were acting really badly."

Padma Coram from concert organisers The Talent Brokers said she would look into the claim the photographer was assaulted after being removed from the venue.

She added: "He was there far too long, clearly in breach of agreement. I was watching [when he was asked to leave] and he wasn't very pleasant. He was adamant about staying back."

She added that usually Gulf News photographers were "very good" and adhered to instructions.

Adams talks Gulf News

Very early in the show, Bryan Adams asked the crowd, "Have you read this story in the papers about the couple in the car?" He was talking about the Gulf News Page 1 story on Tuesday, "The honk that gave it all away", about the couple who thought a car was their bedroom but was caught because the horn went off.

As the crowd roared a yes, he dedicated Can't Stop This Thing We Started to that couple, and the crowd roared again.